In recent years, planar displays have been actively developed. In particular, liquid crystal displays have been applied to various fields by taking advantage of their characteristics such as reduced weight, reduced thickness, and reduced power consumption. A liquid crystal display holds a liquid crystal layer between a pair of substrates, and displays an image by using electric fields between pixel electrodes and common electrodes to control the modulation factor for light passing through the liquid crystal layer.
Liquid crystal displays are based on the following known schemes: a scheme of applying, to the liquid crystal layer, vertical electric fields acting substantially orthogonally to the surfaces of the pair of substrates to control the alignment state of the liquid crystals; and a scheme of applying, to the liquid crystal layer, lateral electric fields (including fringe fields) acting substantially parallel to the surfaces of the pair of substrates to control the alignment state of the liquid crystals.
Much attention has been paid to liquid crystal displays utilizing a lateral electric field in view of their ability to increase viewing angle. A liquid crystal display based on the lateral electric field scheme, such as in-plane switching (IPS) mode or a fringe field switching (FFS) mode, comprises pixel electrodes and common electrodes formed on a first substrate.
A liquid crystal display in the IPS mode includes pixel electrodes and common electrodes arranged at intervals in a direction substantially parallel to the substrate surface. Lateral electric fields produced between the pixel electrodes and the common electrodes are used to control the alignment state of liquid crystal molecules.